LAS VEGAS (AP) — Lincoln Riley had a flashback to three years ago when he coached Oklahoma.
The Sooners were driving against archrival Texas in a tie game when a 33-yard run into the end zone with 3 seconds left beat the Longhorns.
Knowing that a field goal was all No. 23 USC Football needed Sunday night, Riley thought back to that play. A run was called for Woody Marks, who rushed 13 yards up the middle to score with 8 seconds left and beat No. 13 LSU 27-20.
“I told someone on the headset, ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he creases this,'” Riley said. “And, of course, it happened.”
Miller Moss passed for 378 yards and a touchdown and his 20-yard completion to Kyron Hudson and a subsequent targeting penalty on LSU with 18 seconds to go set up the winning score by Marks in the season opener for both teams. It was Marks’ second TD run.
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“We worked really hard throughout the offseason to build the identity of a tough team that really cares about each other,”Moss said.
Moss outdueled LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, who completed 29 of 38 passes for 304 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on the final drive. Moss was similarly efficient in going 27 of 36 in a battle of QBs who waited their turns after sitting behind the two most recent Heisman Trophy winners, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and USC’s Caleb Williams.
USC, in its first season of Big Ten Conference play, sent a message with this victory in the teams’ first meeting in 40 years that the Trojans could be a factor after going a disappointing 8-5 last year.
“That was some pretty good Big Ten football today,”Riley said with a smile.
And it came against a Southeastern Conference opponent hoping to show it belongs in the College Football Playoff. LSU will still have its chances to make that case, but this is the Tigers’ third consecutive season-opening loss under coach Brian Kelly and fifth straight overall. LSU also had its four-game winning streak going back to last season snapped.
“We didn’t play complementary football,”Kelly said. “But the thing that is most concerning for me are the personal fouls, the penalties that are selfish. They’re undisciplined…
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